District of Columbia Employment Law Update – November 2018

Initiative 77 — Minimum Wage Amendment Act

On October 11, 2018, the District of Columbia enacted the Initiative Minimum Wage Amendment Act (B22-0920), which will:

Gradually increase the minimum wage in the District of Columbia to $15 per hour by 2020;

Gradually increase the minimum wage for tipped employees so that they receive the same minimum wage directly from their employer as other employees by 2026; and

Beginning in 2021, require the minimum wage to increase yearly in proportion to increases in the Consumer Price Index.

Specifically, the minimum wage will increase as follows:

$13.25 per hour as of July 1, 2018.

$14 per hour as of July 1, 2019.

$15 per hour as of July 1, 2020.

Beginning on July 1, 2021 and no later than July 1 of each successive year, the minimum wage will increase in proportion to the annual average increase, if any, in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers in the Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area published by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics for the previous calendar year. Any increase will be adjusted to the nearest multiple of $.05.

Additionally, the tipped wage will increase as follows:

$4.50 per hour as of July 1, 2018 (although emergency legislation (B22-992) has the rate listed as $3.89; however, this legislation expires January 1, 2019).

$6 per hour as of July 1, 2019.

$7.50 per hour as of July 1, 2020.

$9 per hour as of July 1, 2021.

$10.50 per hour as of July 1, 2022.

$12 per hour as of July 1, 2023.

$13.50 per hour as of July 1, 2024.

$15 per hour as of July 2025.

No less than the minimum wage as of July 1, 2026.

Tipped employees must actually receive the gratuities in an amount at least equal to the difference between the hourly wage paid and the minimum wage.

The act is effective after a 30-day period of congressional review and would thereafter be effective from October 11, 2018.